Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference is a series of blockchain events held in Russia, Ukraine, Netherlands, Cyprus and from now on - Switzerland, Estonia and Philippines.

Conference will gather the brightest experts of the industry, well-known specialists, and gurus of the crypto market, developers, entrepreneurs, representatives of payment systems, and lawyers who will share their way of thinking concerning blockchain technology development across the globe.

Crypto market analysis, business solutions within FinTech achievements, Blockchain and Bitcoin prospects, cutting-edge technologies and technical aspects of working with the smart technology, the latest regulatory changes, Bitcoin mining and exchange – all these topics and more will be presented at Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Geneva on February 21, 2018.

Apart from the fact that Switzerland has been leading the pack in terms of innovations development for seven years, the country has managed to become a recognized international center of blockchain and crypto projects.

The canton of Zug has become a platform with the most developed infrastructure for the localization and realization of blockchain projects. Here you will find banks working with both fiat money and cryptocurrencies, HSLU-I university that trains blockchain specialists, headquarters of such blockchain startups as Ethereum, Monetas, Lykke. In early 2017, the head of Tezos Foundation Johann Gevers initiated the establishment of the non-profit Crypto Valley Association aimed to support and promote blockchain-based projects.

Pilot blockchain projects started to emerge in Zug in 2014. Launched campaigns included those for referendums, electronic identification of citizens, acceptance of utility bill payments, transport. The whole population of Zug, i.e. 30,000 people, have their own electronic IDs.

Similar projects are launched in other cantons such as Schaffhausen and Uri. At the beginning of 2017, startup Procivis announced the launch of the pilot app store for electronic government based on blockchain. The app will give the citizens of Switzerland an opportunity to use the whole range of e-Government services, for instance, to file tax declarations, manage cadastral registers, vote, and perform digital identification....

The key speakers of the international conference to be held in Geneva on February 21 will be experts from Switzerland. Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Switzerland is dedicated to cryptocurrencies, blockchain and investments in digital assets. It is will be attended by more than 300 participants from different countries.

Legislative regulation remains a critical question for digital currencies and blockchain. Has your blockchain company thought about international tax compliance yet? This question will be answered by Peter Mitchell and Christopher Murrer (Switzerland). The experts are the Associates at Baker & McKenzie Zurich and specialize in international taxation.

ICO is a hotly debated issue associated with blockchain. Will cryptocurrency crowdsales keep their popularity in 2018 and if yes, which strategies for raising funds will be the most effective? The ICO topic at the conference will be covered by an expert from Malta Jan Sammut, ICO advisor (‘10 Steps to launching a successful ICO) and Swiss blockchain enthusiast Gavin Smith, CEO of First Global Credit and AICoin (‘How ICOs are disrupting the Venture Capital paradigm of start-up investment’). Mr. Sammut, CEO of two successful blockchain companies and cryptocurrency investor, will share practical advice on attracting capital. And Mr. Smith will express his point of view on investing in startups in the future....

To protect their funds from hacker attacks, wallet owners should keep their keys in offline wallets, and cryptocurrency exchanges must use secure servers and trusted payment systems. This is an opinion stated by Head of Blockchain Innovation at Nir Porat & Co. Law Firm Aviya Arika. Aviya will present at Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Switzerland, so we talked to her about cyber security of cryptocurrency exchanges and practices of regulating such organizations.

Q) Hello, Aviya! We can see from the media that it is not uncommon for hackers to steal funds from the wallets of ordinary cryptocurrency exchange users. What do you think people should do in order to minimize the risk of losing funds from their stock exchange accounts?

AA) Hello! If you, as a user, choose to keep your coins on the exchange itself instead of sending it to an external wallet of which private keys’ you have the control over, then you are automatically increasing your risk level. There is a saying in the crypto world: “not your keys — not your coins!” and this is essentially true, because when you keep your coins on the exchange, practically it means that the coins are stored in the exchange’s wallet, a wallet (and private keys) which is within the exchange’s control. An exchange at its most currently common centralised form has a single point of failure, and if this point of failure is compromised (for example, gets hacked), then the hacker gets control over the private keys, meaning control over the exchange’s wallets, meaning your coins are gone.

Therefore, to minimise risk it’s always better to get your coins out of the exchange and into your own wallet, the private keys of which you and only you have control over. If you can’t do this because, for example, you want to have available balances of coins for trading on the exchange, then at least make sure you use 2 factor authentication and other control measures, to protect your account as much as possible....